Unbeaten Capitals 'still have some issues' with their batting

With Axar Patel, Kuldeep Yadav and Vipraj Nigam, Delhi Capitals (DC) have arguably the best spin attack in IPL 2025. But are DC also the most balanced side in the competition, given that Axar and Nigam's all-round skills add depth to their batting order and provide six bowling options without having to think too much?

After KL Rahul led them to victory over Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB), Sanjay Bangar and Piyush Chawla suggested that Capitals weren't quite there yet but were very much in the conversation.

"Good bowling attack, they still have some issues at the top of the order," Bangar said on ESPNcricinfo's TimeOut show. "Top order hasn't really fired for them as expected. But with KL Rahul and [Tristan] Stubbs - like now Stubbs' second back-to-back season that he's really producing the goods for them - [they are] clearly a team to watch out for."

Chawla agreed. "They look like a good balanced side, but there is always a scope of improvement. Top of the order and I'll say the fast-bowling department just feel… maybe a few wickets with the new ball, like you can't always be dependent on [Mitchell] Starc and Mukesh [Kumar] all the time. When spinners are bowling in the powerplay, they have to come into the party as well."

They do have a point about the top of the batting order.

Jake-Fraser McGurk, who has opened in all four of DC's games so far, averages 11.50. Abishek Porel and Faf du Plessis, the others in the top three, also average in the 20s and the three of them have one half-century between them. Rahul, who was promoted to open against Chennai Super Kings (CSK), slotted back to No. 4 and had to pull off a rescue act against RCB. He led the way from the top of the order in du Plessis' absence in the last game too.

On the bowling front, they have Starc and Kuldeep, who have 17 wickets between them, but Phil Salt smashed 30 off a Starc over and 16 off an Axar over in the powerplay on Thursday. DC fought back strongly with Nigam dismissing Virat Kohli and joining Kuldeep later on to dismantle RCB's middle order and reducing them to 125 for 7, before scripting a six-wicket win.

Varun Aaron, the former India quick, said that along with his bowling, Nigam's ability with the bat has highlighted the importance of domestic talent coming through in IPL 2025.

"Vipraj was brilliant tonight, he's a great find for Delhi Capitals," Aaron said on JioStar. "He's contributed with the ball and, as we've seen, can be destructive with the bat too. Going forward, he's great value for the investment Delhi Capitals made in him. We need more domestic players like him to step up in the IPL and help take their teams over the line."

Nigam and Kuldeep finished with 2 for 18 and 2 for 17, respectively, to stop RCB at 163 for 7. They bowled 23 dots in the eight overs between them. That set up DC's win, but watching them do their stuff worried Stubbs.

"I went in at the break thinking 'how are we going to make a run here'," Stubbs, who went on to play the perfect second fiddle to Rahul in the chase, said at the post-match press conference. "It looked like it was really hard to bat, so I was like, 'flip, what am I going to do'. But that just shows the three of them are world-class spinners. Kuldeep's, if not the best in the world, [among them] at the moment."

Stubbs, who bats in the top order in South Africa's Test side and in the middle order in their white-ball sides, drew from his international experience to stitch a match-winning 111-run partnership with Rahul. His contribution wasn't insignificant: 38 not in 23 balls.

"I think my roles recently have been so different, like face the new ball in Test cricket and then, I feel like international cricket can still sort of be classed as old-school cricket because the scores aren't as big as they are here [in the IPL], so you're always that space," he said. "So, you just fall back on past experiences and then, when it's really good, it frees you up to [go], 'okay, I can just play here'. But yeah, it's tough playing different situations but it's cricket and that's why we love it."

Now, if spin does become more and more impactful at the IPL, Stubbs should be ready for it.

"Kuldeep I faced in one net session. He actually asked to bowl to me because the last time he bowled to me was the [T20] World Cup final. So, he wanted to do it again," Stubbs said. "But, honestly, if you can get through that net session, you feel really confident because they [DC's spinners] are bowling really well.

"And then if you walk out of that session feeling good, then you know you're in good stead."